A Brilliant Man

My father is really a brilliant man (and yes Dad if you are reading this, I mean it!). There are multiple conversation I can remembering having with my father throughout my childhood, that always made me realize just how smart he was. 

He is a man who realize that happiness is not drawn from material things, but from the simple things already given to us by mother nature....

He doesn't want a lot in life just a plot of land near the water that he can call his own, and the chance to tromp through the woods really in search of the peace that comes from being outside than any deer or elk (though he would take that as a bonus), and maybe a new ski boat....haha

But there is one conversation that I had with my Dad a couple years ago that I always return to. It was while I was home working for the summer. My mom was away on business so my Dad and I decided to go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner (we are real classy like that...haha). 

During dinner, my Dad looked at me and said (something along the lines of)

 "You know Jill, the one thing I worry about with you is that you are going to let your education go to your head. You can't ever thing you are better than other people because you are more educated than them. You were just given a better opportunity then most. But who knows what anybody else could have accomplished with your same opportunities"

Truer words were never spoken by my Father. I revisit that conversation and the lesson I learned and am still learning from it often. Its a story I often tell my friends to. 

As people become more and more educated they often fall victim to wealth of their own knowledge... they can't remember not knowing what they know now, they don't think about how much time and effort it took for them to learn...some people even become pretentious, condescending, and most of all inpatient with those supposedly less educated then them. 

Honestly these are problems we all fall victim to at times, me included. Being less condescending and more patient is something I have been avidly working on ever since this conversation, and it is probably something I will continue to have to work on until the day I die. 

What we don't realize is that the world is full of hundreds of thousands of different types of knowledge and understanding...and each person has there own wealth of knowledge to share, their own lifetime of experience. 

Its funny cause now I always think about how little I know, and much more I want to learn, and life will teach me. 

I look to the people I am working with and see how innovative they are, they learn whatever skills they have to make a difference in the lives of the people we work with. Even the girls at DSK, some of them might cannot even read or write, but then can sew the pants off of me, and definitely know how to handle village life far better then me. 

So Thanks Dad! You taught me more then you will ever know! 

The message stuck, and now instead of thinking in a condescending manner, I am thinking about what  it is that I can learn from the world and the people around. What is it they have to teach me.